1419 The Heavenly Plane's Tournement.
'Hmm?'
Felix didn't know why, but he suddenly felt goosebumps across his skin like something bad was going to happen.
'Whatever.'
He raised his guard for a moment before dropping it after the feeling went away. Probably, Miss Sanae had come to her senses and dropped that lunatic thought.
Felix lifted his hammer with great difficulty and strolled away with his back facing Ravager, not bothering to comfort him on his loss.
He rarely did this even when he was nice...Now that he was as cold as a piece of ice, this entire fight was just business to him.
"Wait sir Traveler, there is still the victory ceremony to be held."
Mr. Sogrus came down next to Felix and murmured near his ears after spotting him getting closer to the edge of the arena.
"Not interested, send me my reward at this address."
Not bothering to stop for even a moment, Felix placed Miss Sanae's card inside Mr. Sogrus' suit pocket and continued on his path.
"..."
Mr. Sogrus glanced at the card and then at Felix's back, feeling like he had to do something to stop him from leaving.
But, when he saw the heat coming from Felix's body and the blood trail he was leaving behind him, he had a change of heart.
'Delivery is good too.'
He gulped a mouthful and returned to his audience, knowing that he had to work extra hard to keep them around for the ceremony without the champion.
Alas, just as he turned in the direction of Ravager, the words were caught in his mouth after noticing that he had gone missing!
'Motherf*ckers! Can't one do his job in peace?'
With the champion and the runner-up both missing, Mr. Sogrus decided to skip the entire ceremony and spot the light on the heavenly plane's tournament.
"With the three qualifiers being decided to be The Traveler, Ravager, and Goliath, our city could be uttered to be stronger than ever! I don't realize about you guys, but I have a strong feeling that we will make it past the semi-
finals this year!"
"Past the semi-finals? Let's hope they can secure their spots in sixteen single-elimination stages first." One of the spectators' scoffed.
"How can you be this pessimistic after watching this epic final?" The spirit next to him gave him an unfriendly look.
"You must be new. You don't realize how difficult the heavenly plane's tournament is. Even the strongest can get eliminated before reaching the top sixteen due to The Great Filter Stage."
"The Great Filter Stage?" The spectator was indeed a new arriving spirit and this was his first time watching a tournament.
Before his seat neighbor could explain it to him, Mr. Sogrus brought it out on his own.
"The heavenly plane's tournament will begin in six months! Just like each year, all the qualified fighters from the hundreds of cities around the realm will have complete freedom to eliminate any fighter they desire!"
This was called The Great Filter Stage for a reason as there was no way a tournament could be held with close to a thousand fighters across the entire heavenly plane.
To make matters more interesting, the government had decided to turn the entire heavenly plane into an open battlefield for only those qualified fighters!
The only limited areas were the cities and that's all!
The contestants could even decide to group up in private territory and rage war against each other if they wanted since all the damages would be paid in full by the government.
Since the cities could be considered safe spaces from the battlefield, there were plenty of rookie contestants whose first thought would be to hole up in them to avoid the battles.
Alas, the only method for the fighters to secure their spot in the top sixteen was by eliminating as many fighters as possible.
That's because of a point system that rewarded a point for each fighter eliminated and the sixteen contestants with the highest points during those six months would be chosen.
In other words, everyone would be more than motivated to get out of their cities and hunt other contestants!
"As most of you know, all fighters will be allowed to use GPS in their crystal devices to track the location of their opponents." Mr. Sogrus rubbed his hands together excitedly, "We will have a direct live streaming of each fight happening across the entire realm."
Clap! Clap! Clap!!...
The audience rejoiced and applauded until their hands grew red at the kind of excitement and drama awaiting them in those inter-city fights!
Each year, the heavenly plane's tournament has close to 80% of the spirits following its event due to how massive it was...Even if someone had no interest in fights, he would still tune in to watch for the sake of joining the festivities and having a sense of pride for their city.
This kind of attraction was ther reason why all the companies waste so much of their resources on sponsored fighters.
The kind of visibility their products and companies would receive was nothing like anything else.
Mr. Atticus knew this very well and that's why even though he was seething internally after losing half a million in the wager, he had no plans to make his only sponsored fighter lose focus.
"Our deal was for you to win the heavenly plane tournament and give exposure to my company plus 50% of the reward. Now, it's 100%...You will pay what you lost me in full." Mr. Atticus uttered coldly as he stared at Ravager who was kowtowing to him with his forehead affixed on the floor.
"I understand..." Ravager replied, his voice softer than usual.
While the punishment was too much, he was merely relieved that Mr. Atticus wasn't going to vent his anger on his sister.
"You better prepare well for the tournament, don't show me such a disgraceful result again." Mr. Atticus warned with a glacial stare, "This is your last chance."
Ravager flinched, but he still showed his understanding with a head nod.
"Scram."
The moment he was given permission, he stood up and flew away immediately, wanting to throw himself into training again.
As he was flying away, Felix's face popped up in his mind.
'This freak appeared out of nowhere and in less than a month became the city's champion.' Ravager narrowed his eyes solemnly, 'Now that he was given six months, he is bound to emerge even more fearsome.'
Although Felix caused his defeat, Ravager didn't harbor an ounce of hatred toward him. Instead, he felt even more motivated to improve himself and break his limits, realizing that his current strength wasn't enough to win the heavenly plane's finals.
"Traveler, just wait, I will come stronger than ever and show you that defeating me was your biggest mistake...Just wait."
...
Back in Miss Sanae's bureau, Felix could be seen sitting on the living room floor while Karra was cleaning what remained of his wounds.
In the spirit realm, fighters' rejuvenation depends on their spiritual energy and if they wasted it all while being heavily injured, they would have some pretty nasty hours to spend.
Ka-thump!!
Suddenly, the door was opened barbarically, slamming against the door, causing Karra to jolt out of her place in fright.
"Travelerrrrr! My sweet little assistant. Come give me Mommy a kiss." Miss Sanae rushed through the door with a wide gleeful smile, showing her tiny fangs.
"Don't touch me." Felix stared in her direction indifferently the moment she was about to give him a hug.
Miss Sanae froze in her posture before pulling back with an upset look. "How can you reject such a beauty? I have plenty of suiters, I let you know."
"More like enemies." Felix sneered and turned on the tv, wanting to see if the rules for the heavenly tournament were about to be released.
He already knew the known ones, but there were plenty of instances where the rules had some changes.
"Tsk, you might have lucked out with fighting traits, but your sh*tty personality makes up for your luck." Miss Sanae clacked her tongue in annoyance and sat next to them, eying the news as well.
Felix ignored her and increased the volume after seeing the replay of his fight being played on the heavenly plane tournament main channel.
"A new dark horse has risen from the capital city! Will this year finally have our beloved capital snatch the crown from the Northern Lights City?!" The reporter disclosed passionately.
"The Northern Lights city...Looks like the three usual suspects, Zephyr, Nebula, and Evergreen are representing it again." Sekiro uttered with a deep frown.
"How strong are they exactly?" Felix asked calmly.
He didn't bother to check the heavenly plane's tournament fighters before since he barely had time to prepare for the local one.
"To put it into a better perspective." Sekiro turned to Felix and uttered with a deadly serious expression, "The weakest of them is two times stronger than Ravager..."
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